NEW YORK — Not too long ago, the conventional wisdom held that “Japanification” could never happen in Western economies.

ABU DHABI — The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development predict that, on average, the European Union’s economy will grow by 1.9 per cent next year, a rate that is broadly consistent with the average of 2

WASHINGTON, DC — The singular issue of Brexit has consumed the United Kingdom for two and a half years.

PARIS — Global markets, policymakers and risk managers are watching the budget skirmish between Italy’s government and the European Commission closely.

SEATTLE — Imagine a world in which the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were more client-driven.

LAGUNA BEACH — Whether by accident or design, Turkey is trying to rewrite the chapter on crisis management in the emerging-market playbook.

NEW YORK — The latest round of tit-for-tat tariffs by the United States and China has intensified the ongoing global debate about whether the world is facing a mere trade skirmish or heading rapidly toward a full-blown trade war.

LAGUNA BEACH — Egypt’s national football team rode to Russia for its first World Cup finals in 28 years on a wave of lofty expectations and potent fan enthusiasm.

NEWPORT BEACH — Argentinian President Mauricio Macri’s government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan that it hopes can stem a peso rout that has driven up interest rates, will slow the economy and threatens the reform programme.